London Calling...

For our vacation this year, we decided to go back to London. Well, fate really decided for us. Rush was playing at the O2 arena in London ON John's birthday. If that isn't a sign, I don't know what is. We stayed at the Hilton Park Lane for 7 nights. The hotel was great. The location fabulous. I had two complaints: 1- no wireless Internet. That has really become a staple for traveling. You don't realize how much you miss it until you don't have it. 2- we were on the 11th floor and it was incredibly windy. The complaint has to do with the fact that the windows aren't sealed well and you can not only hear the wind but you can feel the air coming through. Beyond that - excellent place to stay.

One of the benefits of our hotel is that it was close to 2 tube stops. Our "main" tube stop was Hyde Park Corner.
John at our tube stop. This is the second best way to get around London. The best way is to walk if you have the stamina.
We got into London around 11-ish and by the time we got through customs, immigration and got to our hotel it was about 2pm. We wanted to stay up so that we could get on a regular sleeping schedule so we packed up the backpack and headed out. Within walking distance from our hotel was Buckingham Palace. This is the Queen's main place to stay. In fact, the Obamas were here the same time we were only they got to sleep over.
Buckingham Palace was built in 1762 by George III. It was built as a country house for him and his 15 (yes, 15) children. It has 600 rooms! It didn't become the 'royal residence' until Queen Victoria took the throne.
The next day we had a fancy dinner at the Savoy Hotel. (one of the few pictures of both of us). The Savoy is one of the oldest hotels in London. They had a little room off to to the side that had a lot of historical stuff related to the hotel. They had a guest card for Ava Gardener as well as other movie stars. They had photos of Queen Elizabeth for her coronation back in the '50's.
Here's the Savoy (5/21/11). In the historical room of the hotel, they had this same picture.
This appears to have been taken around the '20's based on the cars that are on the left of the picture. The Savoy Hotel opened in 1899 and was the first hotel to be lit with electricity and the first to have private baths in the rooms.

Dinner was great. Our reservations were at 6:45 pm and the place was deserted. Out in the lobby of the hotel, it was packed with people having their afternoon tea.
A nice glass of wine with dinner. Our table was right by the window so we could look out on the Thames river. After our dinner, we walked around a bit and found that we were very close to Westminster Abbey. We decided to ride over so we could walk around a bit.
The plan was to visit Westminster Abbey bright and early the next day. It opens at 9:30 am and according to the book, this is a place you want to get to early. We went to Westminster Abbey last time and were so floored by the history that we felt we needed to come back. It was founded by Edward the Confessor in 1065. Every monarch from William the Conqueror has been crowned here.

There are so many historical figures buried here. Some I didn't recognize but here's a quick list of those I did: Henry VII & his wife, Elizabeth of York (the start of the Tudor dynasty). Anne of Cleves (one of the wives of Henry VIII). Mary Tudor (Bloody Mary), Elizabeth I, Edward the Confessor, Mary, Queen of Scots, Geoffrey Chaucer and Charles Dickens. There are a lot of others but as I said, I didn't recognize all the names. Unfortunately, you can't take pictures inside.

After we went to Westminster Abbey, we also took pictures of the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben.
Here's the clock tower. Big Ben is the bell that's inside. This is one of those monuments that you just can't help photographing every time you see it. Big Ben was named after Benjamin Hall who was the first commissioner of works.

The Houses of Parliament are in the Palace of Westminster. This was a royal residence until Henry VIII moved to Whitehall. The current buildings date from 1840.
We walked across the river (across Westminster Bridge) and this was an amazing view of the whole thing. The tower on the far left is Victoria Tower which houses all of the historical records.

While on this side of the bridge, we decided to take a ride on the London Eye.
You get into one of these pods and you go around once. The ride takes about 30 minutes and you really don't feel like you're moving. We didn't do this last time because I thought it would make me sick but it didn't at all. The views from the top are amazing.
View from the London Eye.

Most of the time that we were there the weather was great. It would go back and forth between being sunny and overcast. On the windy days it would be chilly as the wind would cut right through you.

The next stop was St. Paul's Cathedral.
Here's the dome. It was designed by Christopher Wren. There were 571 steps to the top of the dome. Having suffered through that when we went to St. Peter's in Rome, we decided to pass.
It's a beautiful church and once again, no photos inside. After dinner that evening, we decided to venture out to see the Tower Bridge at night.
Coming out of the tube station, we saw a rainbow that looked really pretty.
Isn't it beautiful? It doesn't get dark here until about 10 pm so it was hard to hang out that late to get pictures. But this is around 9-ish and it was dark enough for the lights to come on. It's very much like a fairy tale.
Tuesday was another 'easy' day as we had dinner reservations at the Dorchester. First stop was the British Museum. Last time we came, we didn't make it over here. The museum holds artifacts from different places. The admission is free. Apparently, a lot of the schools in the are wanted to take advantage of that and there were TONS of kids there on fields trips. It was so crowded that we couldn't even get close to anything and the noise level was way up. So, we decided to move on.
We found a pub called Bayswater Cafe and we ordered 'traditional pub fare'. John got bangers and mash and I got a chicken pie that was amazing. It came with 'jacket potatoes', which I was all excited about until I found it out it was a baked potato.
The next stop was Kensington Palace. It was acquired by William III in 1689. After William III died, it became the residence of Queen Mary. Queen Victoria was born here. Once she ascended to the throne, she moved the royal residence to Buckingham Palace. In later years, the palace was occupied by Princess Margaret (who was the sister of Queen Elizabeth II) and Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Diana lived her until her death in 1997. This is the official residence of the Duke & Duchess of Kent (Prince Edward) as well as the Duke & Duchess of Gloucester (Prince Richard - cousin to Queen Elizabeth II).

The inside of the palace is being renovated so they have this goofy exhibit called 'the enchanted palace' which seems to be based on "The Princess and the Pea". They should have just closed of the rooms that are being renovated and kept the others open. The exhibit was lame, especially for the cost.

The next day was John's birthday and the day of the 'Big Show'. During the day we did a bit of sightseeing. We went over to the National Gallery and spent some time wandering around. No pictures inside.
The National Gallery is in Trafalgar Square. The National Gallery was built between 1834 - 1838. It houses MANY works of art from the 14th - 20th centuries. The fountains were installed in 1939.
Fountain at Trafalgar Square. You can see Big Ben in the background. This view looks down Whitehall, which leads to No. 10 Downing Street.
As we were walking down Whitehall to find No. 10 Downing Street, we came across this pub called The Clarence. We decided to eat there for lunch. It was here that we found access to the Internet. This was very hard to come by. We'd been 'off the grid' for almost 5 days by this point and we needed to check email, download newspapers and generally see what was happening in the world.

Then we went back to the room to drop off the backpack and we headed out to the O2 Arena.
It looks like a big tent. I assume it's permanent since there are restaurants and stuff inside.
I'm not a big Rush fan and I don't know all the songs (which is surprising seeing as how I live with a big Rush fan...)but the show was really good.
That's Alex Lifeson, the guitarist for Rush.
Geddy Lee has great expressions when he sings.
I love to watch Neil Peart play. My favorite part of the show is his drum solo.

The next day we went to see the Tower Bridge.
Everyone thinks this is London Bridge but it's not. It's the Tower Bridge. London needed a second bridge over the river so this is the one that was built. It was opened in 1894.
You can go inside the towers and look around. Inside this tower there are replicas of workers building the bridge. Across the top, there are two walkways so that people can still cross the bridge even while the bridge is up. The bridge was built with bascules so that the bridge would be able to go up and ships could go into the port. The bridge doesn't go up but a few times a week now.
It's very cool to see.
Another place we didn't go in this time is the Tower of London. The construction began in 1066 under the reign of William the Conquerer. The tower was once a castle before it became a prison. Many people were locked in the tower. Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard - both wives of Henry VIII. They were each beheaded. Jane Grey was beheaded here by Mary I. Then there are the two princes (sons of Edward IV) that were locked in the tower and never heard from again.
That's me with both the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London in the back. Notice the big black cloud? Shortly after this picture, the sky opened up and dumped a bunch of rain. It poured! Lucky for us, we'd ducked into a restaurant next to the train station for lunch. Afterward, we went back to the hotel until it let up.

Our last day in London we decided to take a tour to Windsor Castle. Huge mistake. The tour, I mean. We could have gone out there ourselves, without the tour people and saved ourselves some stress and money. Windsor, on the other hand, was beautiful. This is Windsor Castle on the right and St. George's Chapel on the left.
There used to be a moat but now it's a 'moat garden'. The original castle was built after William the Conquerer and it is the longest occupied palace in Europe. This is the Queen's preferred residence. Apparently 500 people live and work in the castle.
St. George's Chapel - this is where many monarchs are buried. Henry VIII and Jane Seymour are here. George V and his wife, George VI and his wife, Princess Margaret (the Queen's sister) are all here. When Queen Elizabeth dies, she'll be buried here as well.
Statue of Queen Victoria in the streets of Windsor. She's got statues and her name on everything! I guess that's what happens when you reign for 63 years. After Windsor, we went back to London and took a river cruise. Below are sights from the river..
London Bridge - since the days of the Roman's there has always been a bridge on this site.
The London Eye.
Houses of Parliament (Westminster Palace).
Lambeth Palace where the Archbishop of Canterbury has lived for centuries (the Archbishop is the one the officiated the marriages of Kate Middleton and Prince William).
Traitors stairs. If you were convicted of treason, you were escorted down these stairs onto a barge. You then floated down the Thames to the Tower of London.
Traitor's Gate - your trip down the Thames would end here through traitor's gate. People that went through here never came out.

Now for you Rush fans, here's a little snippet...